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World Markets:Europe was modestly higher while the London FTSE was off slightly half-way through their session. The French CAC however had gained over 1%. Japanese equities lost over 2% after Toshiba Corp., the world's third-largest chipmaker, a 1st quarter net loss wider than most analysts expected. Other Asian markets followed suit as the Hang Seng lost 0.76%. US markets showed a slight bid to their pre-open.

Heads-up: Earnings from Chubb(CB:NYSE), Ingram Micro(IM:NYSE), and ON Semi(ONNN:NASD) after the close today. Tomorrow lookout for Exxon Mobil(XOM:NYSE), Halliburton(HAL:NYSE), Newmont Mining(NEM:NYSE), Proctor & Gamble(PG:NYSE), and Disney(DIS:NYSE). Fed's Beige Book at 2pmEDT. President Bush will give a press conference scheduled for 10:30amEDT, however the White House says no major announcements to be made.

Brokerage Chatter:Morgan Stanley raised their estimates for fellow brokers Goldman Sachs(GS:NYSE) and Lehman Brothers(LEH:NYSE). Lehman's price target was also raised to $80 a share by Morgan Stanley. Barnes & Noble(BKS:NYSE) had their numbers taken down at JP Morgan.

Around the world in 80 ticks: MSNBC has reported that despite renewed warnings about possible airline hijackings, the Transportation Security Administration will be pulling air marshals from both cross-country and international flights as of this Friday.

A Eurostar train has broken the UK rail speed record after is traveled at 208 mph. BBC News reported that the Eurostar sped past the old speed record of 162.2mph set back in 1979. When the full Eurostar link is finally completed, the London-Paris time will be cut to two hours and 15 minutes.

Could bugs help South Africa's AIDS epidemic? Bloomberg reports that Entomologists said today a diet supplemented with edible bugs and worms would boost many patients' nutrition levels. AIDS patients could save over 1,000 rand, $130 a month equivalent and ultimately help themselves stay healthy.

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